I had a dream last night about going back to work. In this dream the MegaCorp bosses were in a pinch and wanted me and one of my former colleagues to come back and fix the business I used to run. It seemed like fun in the dream, but I don’t know how the dream turned out since I woke up before we got too … Continue reading Quickly Faded Dreams About MegaCorp
What MegaCorp Perks will you miss when you stop working and which ones will you seek to replace on your own dime? The forum early-retirement.org had a thread recently where people were listing some of the corporate perks and benefits they used to enjoy. They were fun to read through, running that gamut from typical perks like airline miles, sports tickets, fitness club memberships, and … Continue reading Irreplaceable MegaPerks from MegaCorp?
We had the pleasure to go to the Paul Simon concert last month when his tour came through our city. We like to go to concerts and have gone out to a lot more since we stopped working two years ago. It’s amazing how many acts are touring now a days. Like many musicians of his era, this tour was themed as Simon’s “Farewell Tour”. … Continue reading Still Working After All These Years?
A common question I get in early retirement is “what do you do all day?” or “what is your daily schedule?” People wonder how much of regular routine I have – especially what time I get up. I have to admit that after two years on this FIRE lifestyle adventure, I still really haven’t developed much of a daily routine. SLEEP SCHEDULE – I try … Continue reading Daily Schedule in Early Retirement?
Since we are coming up on the end of June – the mid-point of the calendar year – that makes it a good time to look at market performance and see how our portfolio is performing so far in 2018. In short, it has cooled off significantly from last year, although that’s to be expected given the blazing returns posted in 2017 when the S&P … Continue reading Mid-Year Market Musings
I met a friend of my wife’s at the garden center this past Monday morning who retired a few years ago after 30+ years at a local MegaCorp. We were talking about the negative fortunes both our former employers have shown in their stock price. Both companies have seen much better days – down 25-40% from their peak a few years ago. He knew a … Continue reading MegaCorp Stock – Trading on the Familiar
This past week, I had the chance to host a table at a ‘New Alumni Breakfast’ with 170 graduating seniors at the same high school I graduated from back in the 1980s. My son also graduated from there a couple years ago and I got asked to be involved in the Alumni Association when I stopped working. One of the ‘table questions’ the students were … Continue reading FIRE Advice for New Graduates
With Memorial Day over, we are now officially into summer travel season. We have a couple of fun trips planned for this summer – to the Holy Land & Petra in July and Toronto, Canada in August. We generally plan our trips out 3-9 months in advance depending on how adventurous the trip is. Like last summer, I’ll post some additional destination guides to places … Continue reading Summer Travel – Rudy Maxa Thoughts
Mortgage rates are in the news again as the average rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage reached 4.6% this week. It was the highest the rate has reached in the last 7 years – up 0.7 percentage points from where they were at last year. Fifteen year rates are also up – reaching 4.15%. These rates are still incredibly low relative to what they … Continue reading Paying Off Your Mortgage As Rates Rise
My friend that snowbirds in Florida during the Winter came back to MN a few weeks ago. We are now three tennis matches and three softball games into early summer. The activities we enjoy each week are inevitably capped with a cold refreshment and often with a visit to a new restaurant/pub. We’ve been to 30+ different places over the past few years! We were … Continue reading Hazy Recollection of MegaCorp
